Word.

Did you know that ‘OMG’ was first used in a letter to Winston Churchill? | Photo by StartsAt60.com.

OMG. Yes, OMG. Short for ‘Oh, My God!’, this word was initially made popular by Lord Fisher in his 1917 letter (below, photo by The Smithsonian Mag) addressed to Winston Churchill.

2016 is literally just around the corner, waiting to burst open its floodgates for us in roughly 12 hours to go, so let’s welcome it with open arms and cheerleading pom-poms!

No, really. 2015 has been a year of ups and downs, not just for us Malaysians but for the world over, let’s focus instead on the goodness of the year. Well, for one, the Net Generation has gifted us with a fleet of new words and jargon that is actually more useful online. Yeah, let’s focus on that, shall we?

There are some words that made it into the Collins’ and Oxford’s Dictionaries Hall of Fame, and then there are some words that didn’t. If we’re going to usher in the new year and celebrate the new you, we might as well pop the corks for these words of the year! Here are some of the 2015 winners (I’m pretty sure there’re more than 10 words that made it into the dictionaries:

Bae.

As a noun, ‘bae‘ actually stands for ‘before anyone else‘ and has been adapted to be synonymous with ‘baby‘ or ‘sweetie‘. However, as with every other thing in the world, people have managed to twist it and use it for other reasons. Bacon and pizza for the Americans, apparently, as seen on 9GAG.

Thirsty.

This is an adjective, and it doesn’t have anything to do with anyone being desperate for a glass of water. It actually refers to a person’s desperation or over-eagerness for something or someone. Think obsession.

On Fleek.

Here’s another adjective, though this word could probably be gibberish to parents if you used it in their presence. I can just imagine my mother asking, “On who?!”, right now. ‘On fleek‘ means ‘on point‘, as in the ability to appear or have the quality of being perfect. Well, that’s what the Urban Dictionary has to say for it.

Basic.

Yet another adjective, ‘basic‘ is used to define unoriginality or the notion of being mainstream, or common. A person is defined as ‘basic‘ when they are solely interested in popular and commercial things.

Turn Up.

Now this is verb, people. It means to ‘get pumped up‘. Remember Li’l Jon’s smash hit, “Turn Down For What“? Yes, apparently the origin of this word comes from the rapper’s song. Are you going to turn up for the New Year’s eve bash and get ‘turned up‘? LOL. That wasn’t so hard.

Dadbod.

This is probably an adjective, when someone wants to describe the physique of a man. Mainly used for men in their fatherly roles, perhaps. After all, that’s where the first half of the word came from, right? ‘Dadbod‘ is defined as an untoned and slightly plump male physique, yet is somehow considered attractive.

Binge-watch.

This is a verb. To ‘binge-watch‘ is to watch a large number of television programmes (especially all the shows from one series) in succession. Man, whoever this is would win the Couch Potato of the Year award. Patrick Star of Spongebob Squarepants fame will spearhead the list of nominees for the award. Think Korean soaps and telenovellas.

Ghosting.

I never thought ghosts could reach popularity. But this isn’t what it’s meant for. ‘Ghosting‘ is the act or an instance of ending a romantic relationship by not responding to attempts to communicate by the other party. This could probably go hand-in-hand with ‘friendzone‘. Poor guy. First you ‘friendzoned‘ him. Then you ‘ghosted‘ him. There’s no end to his misery, is there?

Manspreading.

This is one word that has never crossed my mind, not even once. My first thought was, “What the heck is ‘manspreading’ anyway?” It is actually a practice committed by a male passenger on public transport by sitting with his legs wide apart, and in doing so, denying space to passengers beside him. Hey, that’s not nice! Selfish prick.

Emoji (the pictograph of ‘Tears of Joy’)

Last but not least, the ‘emoji‘ in the Oxford Dictionary is not really a word. It’s more of a pictograph; a representation of a laughing expression with tears. Meaning to say that you or anyone else for that matter, is laughing tears of joy. The term ‘emoji‘ is defined as a small digital image or icon that is used to express an idea or emotion in electronic communication, and is originated from the Japanese language (‘e‘ means picture, ‘moji‘ means letter, or character).

So are you all ‘turned up‘ yet? Don’t be so ‘basic‘. There are so many new words now to use, let’s all be ‘on fleek‘ with them! But remember, don’t get too ‘thirsty‘ with them or people will start ‘ghosting‘ you. Happy New Year, everyone!

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Life Is A Journey,
But My Best Wishes Are The Milestones
That Will Give You Hope
And Motivation To Move On.
Am Wishing You A Joyous New Year!
With warmth, love and blessings from MiddleMe to you and your readers.